Men’s Basketball tripped up at Mount Union

The Muskingum men's basketball team was defeated, 81-64, at Mount Union on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Muskingum (8-14 overall, 6-9 Ohio Athletic Conference), Mount Union (11-11 overall, 7-8 Ohio Athletic Conference)
• Location: Alliance, Ohio – The MAAC

Inside the Numbers  

• Marcus Dempsey led the Muskies offense with 23 points.
• Devon Peart and Jayson Peoples each netted nine points.
• Jalen Paige chipped in eight points.
• Jacob Geller and Rashay Douglas each grabbed a team-high four rebounds.
• Muskingum shot .369 (24-of-65) from the field, made eight three-pointers, and went 8-for-11 at the free throw line (.727).
• JJ Kukura exploded with a team-high 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Raiders.
• Tommy Stenger came off the bench to score 18 points.
• Mount Union ended the game shooting an impressive .541 (33-of-61) from the field, made nine three-pointers, and went 6-for-9 (.667) from the free throw line.

Game Highlights

Muskingum got within one point on five different occasions in the opening 10 minutes of the first half. Mount Union then started going on a scoring spree as they outscored the Muskies 15-2 to hold the largest led of the stanza, 32-18, with 6:17 to go. The Muskies netted 11 points, which included three trey's, one from Peoples and two from Paige, to cut the deficit down to 36-29 with 2:12 left. The Raiders closed out the half by scoring seven straight points to lead 43-29 at intermission. Mount Union's JJ Kukura scored 21 points in the first half.

Back-to-back baskets by Dempsey got the Muskies back within ten points, 43-33, in the first two minutes of the second half. From there, the Raiders flourished on the offensive end as they held a double-digit lead the rest of the game to seal the win. Mount Union shot .533 from the field in the second half.

Up Next

• Muskingum will continue conference play on the road as they travel to Westerville, Ohio to take on Otterbein. Tip-off is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.